Caroline Weiss

“Unprecedented.” That’s the word wildlife managers keep using to describe bear conflicts in Red Lodge. “This year has really been kind of off the charts in terms of conflicts,” says Chrissy Webb, a spokesperson with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks.

More than 900 bison owned by American Prairie are at the center of a national debate. The Bureau of Land Management wants them off of federal grazing allotments in northeast Montana. A judge says they can stay temporarily. MTPR's Caroline Weiss sat down with Montana PBS reporter Matt Standal to learn more.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced changes to lead cleanup in Butte, as work continues to clean up toxic legacy mine waste in the city. The decision cut the threshold that triggers cleanup of lead in soils within priority residential areas by nearly a third.

Flathead County has warned of measles exposure in several public places. According to The Flathead City-County Health Department, a person with measles visited spots in the county while infectious earlier this month. Measles is very contagious and can spread through the air, even without direct contact with the inflected person.

State officials confirmed a case of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, or HPAI, in a small, commercial flock of Ravalli County chickens Thursday; Glacier National Park officials Thursday announced that Tularemia was detected in a beaver.

Pollution from mining activity in British Columbia is ending up downstream in Montana and Idaho, threatening the health of these shared waterways. A new film by the Idaho Conservation League highlights Indigenous communities impacted by it and solutions in the works. MTPR’s Caroline Weiss caught up with the director, Jennifer Ekstrom.

Thousands more acres will now remain working forestland in northwest Montana, adding to the area’s network of conservation easements. The largest piece helps fill in a gap in a string of easements, securing public access to the eastern edge of the Cabinet Mountains.

Rep. Ryan Zinke this week announced a proposal to conserve hundreds of thousands of acres in the Blackfoot Valley. The “A River Runs Through It Act” looks to bring together decades of local conservation work to shape the future of 430,000 acres.